But no matter: Three days after the crucifixion, the seal is broken, the stone rolled aside and the body nowhere to be found, prompting a severe interrogation of the centurions who were guarding the tomb.ĭesperate to find the corpse - or at least a passable replacement - before unrest breaks out, Clavius and his younger aide, Lucius (Tom Felton), begin an extended inquiry into Yeshua’s life.
The calculating Jewish leader Caiaphas (Stephen Greif) is convinced that Yeshua’s disciples will try to steal the body and claim his resurrection, and so Clavius goes to secure the tomb with thick ropes and a Roman seal. In an amusing running gag, Pilate summons Clavius again and again, each time with slightly greater urgency, to take care of a situation that keeps finding new ways to spiral out of control. With the body entrusted to the Arimathean’s care, Clavius thinks he’s done with Yeshua for good - but no. (Could the timing of his death have had something to do with the earthquake that we saw tearing a CGI gash through a building minutes earlier? Verily.) The scene also gives us a brief, solemn glimpse of Yeshua hanging on the cross, plus the key detail that he died after several hours - somewhat unusual, since it often takes days to expire. Arriving in Jerusalem during Passover (nicely re-created on a budget by production designer Stefano Maria Ortolani), Clavius learns that the ever-weary Pilate (Peter Firth), having just ordered Yeshua’s execution so as to placate the Jews, still has a mini-crisis on his hands.Ī highly intelligent and resourceful leader as well as a skilled soldier, Clavius is tasked with overseeing the removal of Yeshua’s body, leading to a sequence at Golgotha that offers viewers a slightly morbid primer on post-crucifixion disposal methods. Presumably this is the same Barabbas whose release from prison the Jews recently called for while condemning Yeshua, which just goes to show that God and ahistorically minded screenwriters work in mysterious ways. 33), there is a clumsily shot and edited action sequence in which Clavius ( Joseph Fiennes), a high-ranking tribune in the Roman military, calmly slaughters a hostile Jewish fighter named Barabbas.
And in the boldest stroke of casting, Jesus, or Yeshua, is played by the New Zealand-born Maori actor Cliff Curtis (a veteran of Reynolds’ “Rapa Nui”), making for a darker-skinned and probably more accurate-looking version of the Christ than we’ve typically seen on screen. To that end, the ensemble includes several Spanish performers including Maria Botto as Mary Magdalene, Antonio Gil as Joseph of Arimathea, and Paco Manzanedo as a Roman centurion.
In line with that tradition, most of the prominent roles in this English-language production are played by white British actors, though perhaps in the wake of the widely criticized “Exodus: Gods and Kings,” some effort has clearly been made to diversify. Though this is Reynolds’ first film in a decade, the director of “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” (and the ripe-for-rediscovery 1995 flop “Waterworld”) still knows his way around a period piece, and here he achieves a modest throwback to the grand studio Sunday-school lessons of yesteryear.
0 kommentar(er)
